If they have seen any of the previous TARs, I hope they realized that the ability to read a map is critical. In watching the replays of TARs 1 - 5, I am still amazed to see how poorly teams can read maps or follow simple directions and instructions. What a bunch of klutzes we have had on TAR!!

Springing a NASTY SURPRISE Sticking to a familiar formula can make even the hottest reality TV show turn stale. But many are so saturated with twists that the game gets lost in the process By Jeanmarie Tan

September 10, 2005

THE AMAZING RACE 8: FAMILY EDITION

ITS eighth season hasn't even aired yet, and already, some fans are upset with the Emmy-winning series.

For the first time, teams now comprise four related family members as opposed to the typical two-person team.

Here's the catch: Half of the teams have contestants younger than 18, and one family includes brothers aged 11 and 8.

Former racer Hera McLeod from the sixth season apparently thinks it will make the race un-Amazing.

She protested on a fan website: 'From what I hear, (the producers) are having a lot of problems with it... Personally, I think it would be a blessing in disguise (if it was canned) because The Amazing Race is not meant for children!'

Adjustments and concessions to the traditionally gruelling around-the-world course have already been made to accommodate the youths.

In the upcoming season which premieres at the end of the month, teams travel only 48,300km - a far cry from the standard 115,900km - and most of the 'globe-trotting' is limited to cities in North America.

More family-friendly, less-crowded locales were chosen, as well as educational and historically significant sites (from the starting line beneath New York's Brooklyn Bridge to the rumoured finish line at Niagara Falls).

48,300 km works out to about 30,000 miles, the figure quoted in the USA Today interview. I was wondering how 30,000 turned into 11,000. My guess is that 30,000 is just a figure Van Munster threw off the top of his head for the interview before the final tally was made, and that 11,000 is the more accurate mileage.

11,000 miles seems to be the correct figure. It is included on screen in one of the CBS promos which have been aired during the last week.

The 30,000 miles was thrown out in an interview published in USAToday when the producers were still teasing us about TAR8 "going around the world". The world seems to include only North American sites. Hopefully TAR9 will take us back to the world of exotic places we have become accustomed to.

Northwood contestant: 'Amazing Race' intenseWednesday, September 14, 2005ERIN ALBERTYTHE SAGINAW NEWS When summer started, Brock Rogers was a typical college senior looking forward to leaving his Shreveport, La., home for Northwood University, where he planned to carry on a family tradition in automotive marketing.

Three months, 13,000 miles and a television series later, Rogers is bracing for national stardom as CBS launches "The Amazing Race, Family Edition," in which his family races nine others around the world for $1 million.

"It's going to be awesome. I can't wait to see it," Rogers said Tuesday. The first episode airs Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Rogers' contract forbids him from divulging particulars -- where the show traveled, tasks the competitors had to complete, who won, the personal dramas that come with all reality shows.

But he insists the eighth Amazing Race carries more intensity than the previous seasons, when racers competed in pairs rather than family quartets.

"When there's four, it's that much harder," Rogers said. "There are always four opinions, four individuals that ... can conflict."

Rogers can't say what that means for the Rogers team. He names a "low level of patience" as his biggest weakness, one that gets tested next to his gab-happy dad, Dennis.

"It's just crazy," he said.

But when you're in close and constant contact with your parents and sister through the frustrations and victories of a traveling reality show, a new level of unity is inevitable, he said.

"She brought it up, and I said, 'Heck, yeah! I'd do that,"' Rogers said. He had traveled to Mexico once, but never overseas.

Getting the parents on board was a little more difficult, especially when it meant pulling his dad away from his Dodge dealership. But once you're competing for $1 million, he said, the outside world melts away -- along with the fact that it's going to watch you on TV.

"If there's a prize involved, I don't think anybody's worried about how they look," Rogers said. "They're just focused on that prize."

Any conflict that may have taken place on the road stayed there, at least where one other family is concerned. The Schroeder family of New Orleans picked the Rogers' house as their refuge after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home. Now they are building a new house in Shreveport, and the two families are hosting a fund-raiser party for the Red Cross on Sept. 27 -- the night of the premier, Rogers said. v Erin Alberty is a staff writer for The Saginaw News. You may reach her at 776-9673.

"The Amazing Race" has handed Elise Doganieri a "fast-forward" pass, promoting her to co-exec producer of the CBS reality skein.Doganieri created the skein, which has won the top reality series Emmy for two years in a row, with husband Bertram van Munster. Van Munster -- the show's exec producer -- and Doganieri also share co-creator credit.

Doganieri had previously been supervising producer and, before that, producer on the show. "The Amazing Race" is aiming for a third consecutive kudo at this Sunday's Primetime Emmys.

Skein will premiere its eighth season -- a special family edition, with teams consisting of four relatives -- on Sept. 27. Show will hit its 100th episode mark sometime this fall.

" 'Race' has created such a special niche for itself in the genre, and I look forward to creating another 100 shows," Doganieri said.

Besides "Race," Doganieri's credits include serving as a producer on ABC's "Profiles From the Front Line" as well as producer and story editor on the pilot for Paramount's firstrun skein "Wild Things." She worked in advertising before moving into TV.

The reality adventure follows teams traveling around the world, competing on various challenges and following instructions on clues labeled "detour," "road block" and "fast forward." Series, which premiered in 2001, comes from Bruckheimer TV, Earthview, Touchstone TV and Amazing Race Prods.

TV Guide continues to ignore nine of the ten family teams. The only team with four color pix this week are the Blacks. Of course, they have the giddy shirts that make them stand out. But does this mean they end up gone soon or later?

Nah, that's an Oklahoma football team and they ain't going anyplace fast this year. But the promos keep featuring the Blacks. I don't rememer when one team was featured so much over the others, not even Romber.

That's what a Mansfield man and the husbands of his three daughters will bring to a national television audience on Tuesday night, when the first episode in a new season of the reality show "The Amazing Race" airs on CBS.

Erin Drive resident Tony Aiello will appear as part of a family team that competes against nine others in a 30-day around the world scavenger hunt for a top prize of $1 million.

Joining Aiello are his three sons-in-law, Kevin Kempskie, Matt Hanson, and David Alverson, and while all four men are contractually forbidden to make any comment about their experience, Aiello's wife Barbara described what it was like to have the men in the family gone for an extended period.

"It was very different, not having them here," said Barbara. "Something might happen during the day and my thought was to call (Tony) and ask for an opinion...then I'd realize that I couldn't."

Part of the agreement Barbara and her three daughters signed before their husbands started the game, was that they would have no contact with them whatsoever, nor would they be informed of any details regarding their whereabouts. Show producers called them once a week during the taping of the show "to let us know they were alive, that was it," said Lisa Hanson, one of Barbara's daughters.

An exception was made on the morning of July 7, just five days after the family had exchanged tearful farewells at the airport, marking the start of the game. On that date, a series of terrorist bombs exploded in London, killing 52 people.

A representative from CBS called immediate family members, but the details were excruciatingly sparse. For all they knew, Barbara along with Lisa and her sisters Heather Kempskie and Amy Alverson thought their husbands could have been in London on July 7.

"They called and told us only 'they're fine,'" recalled Lisa, though she was still not told where her family's team was located

"That's when it hit me that this is my husband's life, and it was a little weird that I could not be told where he was," said Lisa. "That morning was so scary because we had no idea where they were."

Nor could they reach out to anyone outside the family to help ease the burden of anxiety. That's because everyone was bound by contract with CBS to keep secret the fact that the family had even been selected as contestants for the show.

As a result, invites from friends and neighbors to backyard barbecues became exercises in crafting evasive responses. Barbara and her daughters had to attend such events without their husbands, and then provide vague answers when asked where their spouses were.

A sense of reassurance during the game, though, came from something Tony told his daughters before their husbands left.

"Dad said to us, 'I promise I'll bring these guys home,'" said Heather, who added that in addition to a variety of wonderful traits, her father's "number one priority is safety."

The Aiellos' team was picked from a pool of 25,000 entries to appear in the upcoming season of "The Amazing Race." Tony made an impression among show producers, early on in the selection process. When the family had to submit a two-minute video to go along with a written application, Tony played the part of a mafia godfather, quizzing his sons-in-law about their worthiness as husbands and show contestants,

"I think the show producers saw my dad as this short, lovable, Italian guy and they were intrigued by him entering with his three sons-in-law," said Heather.

On the day their husbands returned, there was joy in even the smallest things.

"You have to remember, we hadn't seen or heard from them, we hadn't even heard their voices for a month," said Heather.

"There is something to be said for the idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder," said Lisa.

As much as the men learned about each other during the month-long adventure, their wives also had some time to engage in self discovery.

"I learned that I'm capable of much more than I thought I was," said Lisa, describing what she learned about herself during Matt's absence. As an example, she described finding a tick on her son's head and removing it.

"Taking care of the tick, that would have been a 'dad thing,'" she said.

She saved the insect storing it in a plastic bag as a trophy to her courage for Matt to see when he returned. Among other manly duties, the two sisters also said they took out the trash and contemplated lawn care.

Once back home, however, after what was literally a voyage around the world, the husbands jumped back into their roles as regular dads.

As difficult and rewarding as the experience was the entire family, the game also had an effect on the Heather and Lisa's 2-year-old sons. Both Kevin and Matt left video messages for their kids and small surprise presents to be opened when moods turned especially sad.

By way of explanation about Kevin's whereabouts, Heather said she told her son, Kyle, that he had flown away on a plane but would be coming back before too long. After that point, whenever Kyle spotted or heard a plane, he'd point to it and say, "There's daddy!"

"It just broke your heart," said Heather.

For Lisa, she said that Matt hadn't been away from their kids for a single night since they were born, so the prospect of being gone for at 30 nights in a row was daunting.

"We broke out the calendar with the month of July and just filled it up," said Lisa.

By the time the month had passed, a jubilant reunion occurred at the Providence airport. The men came down a long escalator into the waiting arms of wives, kids and extended family.

"In a way, coming down to meet us was symbolic, like they were coming back to earth," said Heather.

The entire family has plans to be on the ground and under the same roof at Tony and Barbara's house to watch the first episode of the show on Tuesday night

"I'm looking forward to it on the one hand, but a little apprehensive, too," said Barbara. "You read about how they edit things, so we've had a few laughs not knowing what to expect."

"The Amazing Race" season premiere will air on Tues., Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

sort of a repeat of a previous article on the Weavers but here it is anyway..

Local widow, kids to compete on 'Amazing Race'

A Volusia man's death spurs his wife and kids to compete on tv.

Ludmilla Lelis | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted September 23, 2005

DAYTONA BEACH -- The family of a Volusia County man who was killed at Daytona International Speedway last year is competing against nine other families in the upcoming season of the CBS television show The Amazing Race.

Linda Weaver, 46, and her three children, 19-year-old Rebecca, 16-year-old Rachel and 14-year-old Rolly, are vying in the international quest for $1 million and will appear in the reality series when the new season premieres Tuesday.

The show was filmed in July, but the winner will not be revealed until the end of the 13-episode series.

The father of the family, Roy Weaver III, was struck and killed by a race car at the speedway Feb. 8, 2004, as he was removing debris from the track. The family has a wrongful-death lawsuit pending against the track and the race-car driver involved.

His death put the Ormond Beach family into a "tailspin," Linda Weaver said in a video interview released by CBS that was done at the start of the race.

Family members declined an interview request because their TV contract forbids interviews until the show is over or until the family is eliminated from the contest, said their attorney Bruce Anderson.

The Weavers had a traditional family, with Roy as the authority figure, the breadwinner, a "man's man," Linda Weaver said in the video clip. "Everything got messed up," she said.

For a while, the family struggled to cope. Meanwhile, Linda Weaver, who had been a stay-at-home mom, became a teacher at Calvary Christian Academy in Ormond Beach.

Then came the opportunity to join the TV show, which features teams that must race around the globe and complete tasks at different locations. For example, teams this past season had to rope a pair of llamas in Peru and roll a wooden elephant to a Hindu temple in India.

"One of the reasons why we want to do the race is just to really work together as a team, and accomplish a goal and find out we're still a family -- we're still a victorious family," Linda Weaver said.

"We were a strong, united family before," she said. "Now we're going to be a strong, united family again."

"There's not going to be any outside distractions. It's just going to be us, working together," added the oldest sibling, Rebecca, during the same video clip.

Executive producer and co-creator of the show Bertram van Munster said the Weavers were picked as one of the 10 families because producers thought they could be competitive.

"We thought they were a good, strong team," van Munster said. "It's an exhausting trip, and it's a trip that takes a month to complete."

Roy Weaver's death wasn't a factor when the show decided to cast them, he said.

"It might have been a motivation for them, but it wasn't a motivation for us," he said.

The first seven seasons of the show featured two-member teams, often married or dating couples or best friends, in a race that spans more than 60,000 miles. For the eighth season, the producers decided to make the race for four-member families.

"People always ask us, 'What changes are you making? Are you going to keep it fresh?' " van Munster said. "Luckily, we had some phenomenal families."

He didn't think that the show's loyal fans would be disappointed, though some fan Web sites had worried about the "family-friendly" race format, which covered about half the mileage of prior seasons.

Though TV officials are careful not to give away race details, some fan sites have posted potential sightings of the teams as they make their round-the-world adventure. Nathanael D. Robinson, a graduate student from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, thought he may have spotted Linda Weaver this summer.

Robinson said he encountered a middle-age blond woman in Paris and that the situation seemed to resemble a scene from The Amazing Race.

"Seeing the teams for the eighth season has not put my mind at ease," he said. "In particular, Linda Weaver looks like the woman who approached us." He admits, though, that he's not certain

At least one close friend of the family knows she'll be watching. Ellen Kaslewicz, a friend from Roy Weaver's Alabama high school, thinks that he would have gotten a kick out of seeing his family in the race.

"I know that Roy would have been so proud of his wife and kids to be able to accomplish just the process of being considered for the show," the Deltona woman said. "Roy was a strong Christian, as well as his wife and children, and I believe when the show airs, we will see a little of Roy in his wife and kids in The Amazing Race.

This season of The Amazing Race, which premieres Tuesday, September 27, 2005, will be different from the previous ones. This time, we will have families competing instead of couples -- for the first time, the teams will consist of four people instead of two, and children can be part of the group (the minimum age for a contestant is eight). Whereas before the two people competing could just be friends, now each team needs to be related in some way, whether biologically or by marriage.

Looking at the families that are competing, one can see that some are composed of adults only, and some are composed of a mix of adults and children.

(It will be interesting to see what kinds of contests the producers come up with to even out the field, so that those families with children are not left behind.) The two families that come from the Chicagoland area are:

The Bransen Family:The Bransen family team from Park Ridge, Illinois, is made up of a father and his three daughters, who once appeared together in a Pert shampoo commercial several years ago.

Walter, 51, the self-proclaimed leader of the group, has been married for 31 years. He works as a CFO and is a native of Chicago. The proud dad of five children, Walter describes himself as being reserved and analytical. He is also a history buff in regards to anything about Abraham Lincoln and belongs to the Abraham Lincoln Association.

Elizabeth, 25, is the oldest daughter. She recently obtained a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois. Elizabeth describes herself as personable and trustworthy and has a fear of heights. She and Walter have similar personalities and sometimes their stubbornness can cause friction between the two.

Lauren, 22, recently earned a Bachelor's degree in Communications and Business Management from Hope College. Punctual and adaptable, Lauren admits she can be impatient.

Lindsay, 20, is the youngest of the sisters. Currently, she's enrolled at Hope College, also majoring in Social Work. Lindsay complains that her older sisters are always telling her what to do.

The Bransens are well-traveled and eager to compete as a family for a chance to win the $1 million prize.

The Godlewski Family:The Godlewski Family is a team of four sisters from Des Plaines, Illinois. The four sisters, from oldest to youngest, are: Michelle, Sharon, Christine, and Tricia. Each sister has her own personality, which may cause some roadblocks of their own along the way.

Michelle, 42, is the most direct of the team. She describes herself as excitable and competitive.

Sharon, 39, works as an insurance claim consultant. She says she's alluring personable and admits she that she thrives on challenges.

Christine, 37, is a bit obsessive. A homemaker and the mother of four, Christine's biggest pet peeve about herself is not being able to defend herself when she gets into an argument with her siblings.

Tricia, 26, the youngest of the team, is always forced to play the role of peacemaker.

Tricia is hoping the Race will show her sisters she has what it takes to endure The Amazing Race. All four sisters live within thirty minutes of one another. Although they have traveled extensively together, the Race will surely put their relationships to the test as they embark on a much different kind of family vacation

Terri Linz had no idea what would happen to her four children when she saw them off at the Cincinnati airport July 1."We put them on a plane and, from that point on, I had no idea what they were doing," said Linz. "We just let them go for five weeks."

Linz's four adult children left for the east coast this summer to participate in the eighth season of CBS television's "The Amazing Race." The four oldest children of the family's seven offspring were invited to apply to the program after running into a reality show producer while on vacation.

"They were on vacation in Cancun and a producer spotted them and said they would be good candidates for the show," said family friend Beverly Corbett.

Corbett knows the Linz family through the childrens' mother, with whom she attended school at Unioto. Linz and her sister, Susan Halley, graduated around the same time as Corbett, but both later moved to accommodate their families.

"I've stayed in touch with both of them," said Corbett. "They still know a lot of people in the area."

The family members representing the Linzes on the "Amazing Race: Family Edition" are Tommy, 19, and Megan, 21, college students attending Miami University; Nick, 24, who works in sales and lives in Buffalo, N.Y.; and Alex, 22, a University of Cincinnati graduate who works as an emergency room technician.

Megan is the sole female member on the team, but her mother thinks she handled it well.

"Nick is the self-appointed leader of the group because he's the oldest," said Linz. "I feel sorry for Megan traveling with them, but she has adapted really well to being around the boys."

The premise of "The Amazing Race" is to leave each group clues to lead them to various locations to collect more clues. The team to reach the final destination first wins $1 million and several prizes.

Despite having finished the race several months ago, none of the adventure game's contestants can speak about their experience until the show has finished airing on CBS later this year.

"They took off the entire month of July," Corbett said. "They couldn't talk to other family members for 30 days. When they came back they couldn't comment."

Whether the Linz team is declared the winners or not, their mother sees it as just a fun experience for them.

"It's pretty fun," she said. "The kids are humble enough to take it with a grain of salt."

"The Amazing Race: Family Edition" will premiere 9 p.m. Tuesday on CBS.

The Amazing Race: Family Edition Two Hour Premiere Airs September 27th

The Amazing Race: Family Edition Two Hour Premiere Airs September 27th 9/22/05

TEN FAMILIES EMBARK ON THE ULTIMATE FAMILY VACATION WHEN THE EMMY AWARD-WINNING REALITY SERIES "THE AMAZING RACE: FAMILY EDITION" DEBUTS WITH A SPECIAL 2-HOUR BROADCAST, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

"Go Mommy Go! We Can Beat Them!" -- Ten families will embark on the ultimate family vacation with one family taking home the $1 million prize when THE AMAZING RACE: FAMILY EDITION, the three-time Emmy Award-winning reality series, premieres with a special two-hour broadcast, Tuesday, September 27 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Phil Keoghan is the host of the series.

The picturesque New York skyline emerges as water taxis speed the 10 families across the New York Harbor as they ready themselves for a high-energy race through Manhattan. Fireworks begin immediately as one family bickers about getting lost in the crowded streets while another team complains of a leg injury. After completing their first task, families travel to Pennsylvania where they must paddle a rowboat across the Delaware River, the same place where George Washington famously crossed the Delaware during the Revolutionary War. At the detour, families choose between building a miniature working water mill or pulling a traditional Amish buggy along a 1.5-mile course. One family has a big scare as their buggy nearly runs over a team member, while another team becomes exhausted pushing their buggy through the countryside.

THE AMAZING RACE: FAMILY EDITION is an adventure reality show hosted by Phil Keoghan that pits 10 teams of families against each other in a race around the world for approximately 30 days. At every destination, each family must compete in a series of challenges, some mental and some physical, and only when the tasks have been completed will they learn their next destination. Families who are the farthest behind will gradually be eliminated as the contest progresses, with the first team to arrive at the final destination winning $1 million.

One of the families that competed in the upcoming family addition is helping victims of Hurricand Katrina and having a opening night party all at the same time! The Rodgers family of Shreveport, La is using the first showing on Tuesday night as a chance to help raise fund for the Red Cross.

“We’re renting out a big restaurant and we’re going to charge $5 and give it to the Red Cross,” said Brock Rodgers, aged 19.

In past episodes of the show, two teammates worked together competing for the first place prize of $1 million. This season has a different twist as 10 families of four race for the big money. The season was taped during the summer, and Rodgers can’t give away much information about the series until it airs because of his contract with CBS. “No results, no experiences, nothing that went on, nothing about my competition,” he said.

I guess we will all have to tune in and watch on Tuesday! By the way, this also confirms that it is indeed this very same Rodgers family that claims, Brittney, 23…..one and the same who won an episode of Fear Factor that featured Miss USA contestants.

That's what two Bellingham residents will bring to a national television audience on Tuesday night, when the first episode in a new season of the reality show "The Amazing Race" airs on CBS.

Wrentham Road residents Kevin Kempskie and Matt Hanson will appear as part of team that competes against nine others in a 30-day around the world scavenger hunt for a top prize of $1 million.

Joining Kempskie and Hanson, is their father-in-law, Tony Aiello, of Mansfield, and another of Tony's son-in-laws, David Alverson, who lives in North Providence, R. I.

While all four men are contractually forbidden to make any comment about their experience, Kevin and Matt's twin-sister wives, Heather Kempskie and Lisa Hanson, spoke at length about surviving their own "amazing race," which included month-long stints as single moms to a combined total of four kids, all of whom are under 2 1/2 years old.

"I learned that I'm capable of much more than I thought I was," said Lisa, describing what she learned about herself during Matt's absence. As an example, she described finding a tick on her son's head and removing it. "Taking care of the tick, that would have been a 'dad thing,'" she said.

She saved the insect storing it in a plastic bag as a trophy to her courage for Matt to see when he returned. Among other manly duties, the two sisters also said they took out the trash and contemplated lawn care.

Once back in Bellingham, however, after what was literally a voyage around the world, the husbands jumped back into their roles as regular dads.

On a serious note, the separation from their husbands provided a particularly difficult psychological and emotional challenge for Heather and Lisa. While the family's selection as a team was an honor - they were one of 10 family teams from a pool of 25,000 entries - Heather, Lisa, their mother, Barbara Aiello and their sister Amy Alverson, were all told upfront that they could have no contact whatsoever with the men until they returned.

Show producers called them once a week during the taping of the show "to let us know they were alive, that was it," said Lisa.

An exception was made on the morning of July 7, just five days after the family had exchanged tearful farewells at the airport, marking the start of the game. On that date, a series of terrorist bombs exploded in London, killing 52 people.

A representative from CBS called immediate family members, but the details were excruciatingly sparse. For all they knew, Heather, Lisa, Amy and Barbara thought their husbands could have been in London on July 7.

"They called and told us only 'they're fine,'" recalled Lisa, though she was still not told where her family's team was located.

"That's when it hit me that this is my husband's life, and it was a little weird that I could not be told where he was," said Lisa. "That morning was so scary because we had no idea where they were."

Nor could they reach out to anyone outside the family to help ease the burden of anxiety. That's because everyone was bound by contract with CBS to keep secret the fact that the family had even been selected as contestants for the show.

As a result, invites from friends and neighbors to backyard barbecues became exercises in crafting evasive responses. Heather and Lisa had to attend such events without their husbands, and then provide vague answers when asked where Kevin or Matt were.

Providing a sense of reassurance during the game, though, was something Tony told his daughters before their husbands left.

"Dad said to us, 'I promise I'll bring these guys home,'" said Heather, who added that in addition to a variety of wonderful traits, her father's "number one priority is safety."

To maintain some kind of connection, the couples each kept journals, though those written by Kevin and Matt can only be shown to their wives as each episode airs. The men remain under contract not to let anyone know how they did in the race until the are either eliminated during an episode, or are unveiled as the show's winners.

On the day their husbands returned, there was joy in even the smallest things.

"You have to remember, we hadn't seen or heard from them, we hadn't even heard their voices for a month," said Heather.

The separation allowed the two sisters to really think about their relationships with their husbands. "They were desperately missed, but we would recommend (some time apart) for all couples," said Heather.

"There is something to be said for the idea that absence makes the heart grow fonder," said Lisa.

As difficult and rewarding as the experience was for Heather and Lisa, the game also had an effect on their 2-year-old sons. Both Kevin and Matt left video messages for their kids and small surprise presents to be opened when moods turned especially sad.

By way of explanation about Kevin's whereabouts, Heather said she told her son, Kyle, that he had flown away on a plane but would be coming back before too long. After that point, whenever Kyle spotted or heard a plane, he'd point to it and say, "There's daddy!"

"It just broke your heart," said Heather.

For Lisa, she said that Matt hadn't been away from their kids for a single night since they were born, so the prospect of being gone for at 30 nights in a row was daunting.

"We broke out the calendar with the month of July and just filled it up," said Lisa.

By the time the month had passed, a jubilant reunion occurred at the Providence airport. The men came down a long escalator into the waiting arms of wives, kids and extended family. "In a way, coming down to meet us was symbolic, like they were coming back to earth," said Heather.

Within hours, Lisa and Matt's son, Noah, was wrestling with his dad, throwing pillows "and playing all the games they had missed with each other over the past month," said Lisa

Kyle also had a wonderful reunion with Kevin, but said, "I don't want daddy to ever go on a plane again."

"The Amazing Race" season premiere will air on Tues., Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. on CBS.

To my mind, just too much pre-race publicity about the family teams is being generated by local papers around the country. Can't remember any previous TAR with so much info being given out about all the team members so far in advance of the start of the actual race.

Me thinks that CBS is getting worried about the appeal of the four-person teams, the trip only covering 11,000 miles and travel only around North America. So they are encouraging local papers from each team's home town to hype them to the sky blue heavens.

The Amazing Race Schroeder Family Lost Everything In Hurricane KatrinaOn the Amazing Race Family Edition, ten families compete in a grueling race around the world for a million dollar prize. However, nothing encountered on The Amazing Race can compare to what one of the families competing on the show has been through recently. The Schroeder family is from New Orleans, Louisiana and lost everything during Hurricane Katrina

Tom (left), Nick, Alex and Megan Linz of Anderson Township will be competiting in "The Amazing Race" starting Tuesday.

ON THE AIR What: "The Amazing Race: Family Edition"

When: 9-11 p.m. Tuesday

"AMAZING RACE" HOST HERE Host Phil Keoghan will sign DVDs of "The Amazing Race" first season 3-5 p.m. Thursday at the new West Chester Township Wal-Mart, 8288 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, just north of I-75.

It's amazing. Everywhere Terri Linz goes, somebody tells her how much they love "The Amazing Race."

"I hadn't seen the show," says Linz, 52, of Anderson Township. She didn't know that Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky was the No. 1 market for CBS' "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor."

"It has been a real enlightenment to me," she says. "I've never had time to sit and watch TV in the evening."

The mother of seven - and part-time Clermont Mercy Hospital nurse - has set aside Tuesday night to watch the show at an undisclosed location.

A very large location.

"We thought we'd have 100 or so, but we're doubling that," she says.

CBS won't allow her to mention the site. The network wants to maintain the illusion that the Linzes - and nine other family teams - are still traveling around the globe in hopes of winning $1 million. The show was taped in July.

For the first time, teams have been expanded from two people to four family members. Participants range in age from 8 to 57. The show won a third consecutive Emmy for best reality show last week.

Team Linz is Nick, 24, a salesman for the family business in Buffalo, N.Y.; Alex, 23, an emergency room technician; Megan, 21, and Tommy ("Bone"), 19, both Miami University students. Nick and Alex played on the 1998 St. Xavier High School state runner-up football team.

One of the sports betting sites in LV has stopped taking bets on the Linz Family. Rumor has it that there was extraordinary bets being placed from Ohio during the last week. At the same time Mrs. Linz is saying that her kids have told her that Cincinnati will be proud of them. Giveaway that the Linz kids actually do win?

Amazing Race’ has lost its wayShow keeps tweaking format as ratings climbed

CBSWill the addition of families improve or ruin 'The Amazing Race'?

COMMENTARYBy Andy DehnartMSNBC contributorUpdated: 4:57 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2005The past year and a half has been rough for long-time fans of “The Amazing Race.” The first season debuted in 2001, but only in the series’ fourth year did it finally earn the audience and massive fan base it always deserved.

Unfortunately, success came with a price.

During the first four seasons, two-member teams of people with preexisting relationships raced around the world. From Johannesburg to Manila, Hong Kong to Paris, Mexico City to Venice, they were challenged to navigate unfamiliar places, complete physically and mentally challenging tasks, and overcome the stresses placed on their relationship.Parents grew closer to their children, grandparents finished tasks they didn’t think they’d be able to complete, couples learned that their communication skills weren’t quite as strong as they’d imagined, and friends laughed and bonded on their way to the finish line. Viewers grew frustrated with “equalizers,” pre-arranged transportation or hours of operation at certain tasks that caused the teams to bunch up, but also kept the tension ratcheted up. Along the way, these teams formed friendships with their fellow racers and sometimes butted heads when their paths crossed. All but one pair would be “Philiminated” — told that they “been eliminated from the race” by host Phil Keoghan — while the rest would keep running, ensuring our pulses would be racing until the very last minute.

And then came season five.

In the summer of 2004, “The Amazing Race 5” became a hit, ending its 12-episode run with a finale that was watched by 50 percent more viewers than watched the previous season’s conclusion. That was also the season that the race officially changed. With the introduction of two new elements, the series took a different route than it had its previous four seasons.

Ch-ch-ch-changesThe most significant change was the Yield, an option that permitted one team to force another team to stop racing for a period of time. While in the past teams sometimes worked together, and occasionally worked against one another, the Yield fundamentally changed the series’ focus from the race to the dynamics between the teams. Instead of just racing against other teams, they were now playing against other teams.

Also during “The Amazing Race 5,” producers changed the rules for non-elimination legs. Teams that arrived to pit stops in last place occasionally were not eliminated. But during the fifth season, teams who came in last on those special, predetermined non-elimination legs were forced to surrender all their money (and, a few seasons later, all of their possessions). This left the team to wander around a country begging for money from locals and tourists, all while a camera crew awkwardly, ridiculously, and offensively taped their quest for $1 million.

The casting also changed the series. For the fifth season, CBS decided to pimp out a star from its summer reality series to its Emmy winning series, and former “Big Brother” houseguest, Alison, and her boyfriend joined the race. Alison was pretty universally loathed on “Big Brother,” and viewers remained baffled why the producers would let such a twit tarnish “The Amazing Race.” Of course, the answer was ratings.

“The Amazing Race 5” also included pompous and verbally abusive Colin and his suffering girlfriend Christie, giving the series its first detestable villain. And Charla Faddoul’s presence on the cast also caused some concerns, at least initially. As a little person, the first reality show contestant not to be of average height, her inclusion on the show seemed like stunt casting at best and exploitation at worst.

As it turned out, Alison and Donny were eliminated at the end of the second leg, after annoying the world with their immature bickering. And Charla’s heart quickly captured viewers, as she showed she was more capable and strong than her teammate and cousin, Mirna, and frequently stronger than other racers.

As Charla hauled a 55-pound side of beef through the streets of Uruguay, she gave the series one of its few iconic moments and the rest of us a lesson in perseverance and will, shaming anyone who thought a person’s lack of height could limit their abilities. When Charla and Mirna were eliminated from the race, even usually stoic Phil Keoghan broke down.

But Charla left early and Colin and Christie made it all the way to the end, arriving at the finish line in second place. Between the abrasive personalities and the new rules, producers had injected their show with elements of other reality series. Then the ratings increased, because apparently many viewers weren’t smart enough to appreciate a show that was more than just a popularity contest.

That led the way for future contestants Jonathan and Victoria, Rob and Amber, and others, all of whom gave us more fighting and backstabbing than we usually see on a season of “Survivor.” Specifically, Rob and Amber’s aggressive play changed the face of “The Amazing Race”; instead of focusing getting themselves further in the race, they also focused on slowing other teams down. Their use of strategy was within the confines of the game, but as a result, the competition became more than a race.

It’s not as if the first seasons didn’t have their share of dramatic confrontations or even villains. “The Amazing Race” has seen plenty of abrasive personalities; season three’s winner, Flo, was known for her shrieking fits, during which she often insisted she was quitting the race. And from the first season on, contestants have always shared information—or declined to be helpful—based upon how much they like other teams.